Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Hollywood cheer in city slum

— PHOTO: ABHIJIT DEV KUMAR

Star appeal: Matt Damon formally launching a drinking water connection during his visit to Annanagar slum in Secunderabad Cantonment.

HYDERABAD: He played Will Hunting in the Oscar winning flick Good Will Hunting. More popularly known as Jason Bourne, for his action-packed Hollywood movies of the Bourne Series, Matt Damon, appeared to enjoy his relative anonymity in the Annanagar slum of Secunderabad Cantonment on Friday.

Though unaware of his iconic status in Hollywood, Annanagar residents extended him a typical Hyderabadi welcome with flower garlands and a liberal dash of vermillion on his forehead. So secret was his visit that not many newspersons were around to report the ‘felicitation’ of Damon, who helped the 1,050 odd residents of the locality get drinking water connections.

Damon and his friend Gary White from the WaterPartners International, which spent nearly Rs. 1 crore to facilitate laying water pipelines and helping the Annanagar residents get water connections, were felicitated by the residents. The city-based NGO, Society for Integrated Development in Urban and Rural Areas (SIDUR) was instrumental in getting the works done. The Hollywood star’s brother Kyle Damon too was present.

The delegation consisting of Damon, his brother, WPI’s representative Gary White went round the area for over an hour, enquiring about drinking water supply in the area. With new pipelines laid in the area, the delegation also inspected an open drain and interacted with the residents about the problems that they faced everyday. Their happiness was indeed visible as every resident stood beside their newly installed water taps and asked their ‘foreigner’ guests to break a coconut as a gesture of auspicious beginning. One after the other, residents came up to their guests offering sweets.

Their enthusiasm was such that they even garlanded a group of foreign journalists who were accompanying Matt Damon.

“Now we won’t have to go to the public areas to get water and will be saved from the pain of collecting water from common pits in the area,” said A. Swaroopa, a resident. Secunderabad Cantonment Board vice-president Jampana Pratap was also present.Damon runs a foundation called H2O Africa Foundation that aims to create awareness about water issues in African countries such as Kenya, Ghana and Central African Republic to name a few. A similar project is said to be planned for India.

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